Ya know what I would love to see you do - some commentary on the Pistons. Like I have said before, I am a huge Detroit fan. What is your opinion on the sudden losses? It seemed like this was going to be an amazing year, but now my team is about to lose home court advantage to the Spurs! I don't think anyone would be more fit to speak on the subject than you.

What the Pistons need to worry about is the Miami Heat. They are starting to turn it on. If I remember correctly the Pistons were one Dwyane Wade injury away from watching the finals at home.

Now with all that said: Do I think the Heat can beat the Pistons in the conference finals? NO. But what they can do is wear down the Pistons in a seven game series. Wear them down enough to the point where they have a hard time against the Spurs in the finals.

"The Pistons were one D.W. injury away from ..." - yes. I agree there. But for whatever reason I think Detroit assumed they had it in the bag (like most Detroit teams do) and they didn't play to their fullest ability. It's not looking goo for Miami to beat Detroit in the finals. You WANT the Spurs to win?! No!!! I truly want Detroit to win, I happen to really hate Mr. Parker. No good reason, just being competitive I guess.

I know the Lakers are your favorite team and you don't bet on them. But I have to ask, they are going into New Orleans, not Olkahoma City but the big easy, for the first professional sports event there since Katrina. I don't know what the line is, but i'm asking you to be objective here and tell me how you would bet.

What you say is absoultely a possibility. The thing is is that the Heat was a better team last year. Truthfully I think the Pistons will handle them in 6 games. On the flip side, teams like the Suns with their relentless style and the Mavs with their new found commitment to defense and hustling may wear on the Spurs. I personally would not be surprised if the Mavs come out of the West. I think they are a better team than the Suns and maybe even better than the Spurs. Its actually funny that you mention wearing down a team. That is a huge reason I said take the Clips last night. AS you know, I'm on the West so I watched the Laker/Spurs game the night before. The teams played hard all game and it was really physical. Lamar Odom fouled the shit out of Tony Parker at one point.

The Suns beat the Mavericks on Sunday after being down by at least 10 in the second half. And lets not forget the Mavs also lost to the Spurs last week.

The difference between the Pistons and other teams is that Detroit had an All Star team. Most teams have one (Kobe) or two (Parker and Whats his name) great players. With that being said, I don't know about the Mav's. Suns maybe, then again anything is possible (i.e. Clippers)

It doesnt matter. I think in a seven game series the Mavs would win. The messed up part is that the Mavs may play the Spurs in the second round. I think the Mavs match up better with Spurs than the Suns. I dont know if you watched the Spurs/Mavs game when STackhouse basically said that the refs were cheating. When I was watching the game I was saying the same thing. I thought the refs cheated to let Gonzaga back in the game the other night. Im digressing. Who really knows whats going to happen when Amare come back. The point is that was one game, but right now I say the Mavs or any team committed to defense beats the Suns in a series. That includes the Spurs and Detroit. Definitely not the Heat.

Ya know, the "refs cheating" must be a common thing - (HEY!! You'd be a great person to write on this topic for a blog!!!! That'd be a great debate!) Shanahan just got thrown out of the game last night cuz he didn't like a call (NHL). If Detroit doesn't take the cake I would LIKe to see a team like the Mav's do it.

I would argue that the reason that the Pistons have a team of all-stars is because they are on the same team. Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace are arguably the only two legitmate all-stars. As for the rest of their starters, if they were on different teams I don't think they make the team. Rasheed Wallace would be a head case who gets too many technicals. Richard Hamilton spot would have been given to Gilbert Arenas which it should have been anyway.

The line on the Laker/Hornets game is Hornets(-1). You got to take the Hornets here I think. The Lakers have been playing harder and more like a team as of late. But like I said earlier they were just in a pretty physical game and now they have to go on the road. Now, the Hornets are knid of sucking it up right now. I believe last time out they were outscored 30-9 in the fourth quarter and lost by 13 and a few game earlier set a record in the shot clock era for lowest point total in a half. Thus far they have protected their home court, but their team is sort of an enigma to me because I have actually not seen them play this year. However the Lakers are enigmatic. You never really know what team is going to show up. You can never overlook the Kobe factor. He can explode on you at any time and especially on a stage like this. Back in the NFL season the Saints beat the Panthers in their home opener. The Saints probably won 5 games and Panthers were one game away from the Super Bowl. That is why, and it hurts me to say, if you put a gun to my head I would take the Hornets(-1). This what goes thru my head plus some research when I pick a game and it's even worse for football. You happy. I picked against my team.

Hey now, Rip is a great player. R. Wallace is a head case, which is why previous teams had gotten rid of him. He DOES get way to many T.F's. Isn't there a new rule this season; something like for every 14 tech's you get a game suspension? Isn't he at like 12?

Thats good. Despite what others may say, I think Sheed is a valuable player to Detroit. I like the crazy things he says. I think it's exciting. And he really HAS toned it down!

You got a lot of reads on this article! Good for you! I see your racism article did good too.
I really would love to see you do some more up-for-debate commentary. I think it'd catch on!

You will probably see more diverse content from me in the future. I have been wanting to write about other things, but I guess I just never get around to it.

Does anybody ever bet on motor sports?

yea its available. I only really ever saw NASCAR though. there are normally like odds for ten or so people to win or you can take the field. There are probably alot of other prop bets, but I don't much about it. I saw it a little when I was in Vegas.

I still have a hard time figuring out who will finish in the top 5 from week to week.

Visit my NASCAR blog:
http://bloggerparty.com/blog/wendy_jackson

Yea I bet it is. for the UAW daimler chrysler Jimmie Johnson is getting the best odds(7-1) for instance followed by tony stewart,carl edwards, and a few others. JJ Yeley for instance is 100-1 to win. There are also prop bets but they are not available yet. It seems like you can bet on Formula 1 and Busch Series too. I actually read your blog today. I thought it was pretty interesting because I like to know about all sports so you definitely enlightened me. I try to watch NASCAR but I haven't gotten into totally as of yet.